Uneventful month in Québec City's labour marketHighlightsCommentary

The Québec City CMA kicked off the year with 425,600 jobs in January 2015, unchanged from December 2014 but ending five consecutive monthly declines. Regional unemployment rose from 5.4% in December to 5.6% in January due to a 0.6% expansion of the workforce, which was not accompanied by an increase in employment. Nevertheless, the region posted the lowest unemployment rate in the province and one of the lowest in Canada.

Highlights

The labour market remained stable in the Québec City census metropolitan area (CMA) in January 2015 compared with December 2014. The region recorded a total of 425,600 jobs.

Unemployment stood at 5.6% in January, one of the lowest rates in the province.

Statistics Canada made a number of corrections to its Labour Force Survey: the Québec City CMA actually had a total of 433,700 jobs in 2014 (+5,200) and an unemployment rate of 5.3% (4.7% in 2013)—the best performance in the entire province.

In the province of Québec, the labour market began the New Year with a gain of 16,000 jobs compared with December 2014 as unemployment dipped to 7.4% from 7.5 % one month before.

Commentary

The Québec City region saw its employment numbers rise to unprecedented heights in 2014. Thanks to economic diversification, various components contributed to this phenomenon. The presence of key industries, the rollout of major projects, signs of recovery in the manufacturing sector, the resumption of exports and Québec City's "head office" role as the provincial capital all had a positive impact on the employment figures. However, the shortage of qualified workers, as seen in the low unemployment and high employment rates, brought the region back to more sustainable levels, as we saw last fall.

Statistics Canada made a number of corrections to its Labour Force Survey in January. According to the revised figures, the Québec City CMA posted a total of 433,700 jobs in 2014 for a year-on-year gain of 5,200 jobs, or the largest annual increase in Québec. Regional unemployment stood at 5.3%, up from 4.7% in 2013 but still the lowest in the province of Québec.